Conventional slings for rifles have their rear swivels attached to the toes of the rifle butts and their front swivels to the bottoms of the fore-ends of the rifle stocks. The main purpose of this kind of sling assembly is to carry the rifle at the back of a person during parades or long hikes.
In target practice, when the shooter is in a prone, sitting or kneeling position, the sling is used to make a not-so-rigid brace for the arm that supports the rifle under the barrel. However, in combat or in fast shooting, the same sling becomes superfluous and cumbersome. In case of emergency, such as during ambuscades, it takes a long time and deliberate movement to untangle the sling from the shoulder and put the rifle at firing position. Precious seconds are lost and the delay may cost a life.
European soldiers have made some improvement by attaching the swivels at the side of their submachineguns so that they can fire the same from waist or hip level during emergencies with the sling still attached at their shoulders. But firing the firearms from the hips or waist level requires a lot of practice and consumption of a considerable quantity of ammunition. Some users of submachineguns have developed the tendency to "walk" the bullets towards the targets, and hitting the target beyond ten meters from the waist or hip level becomes guesswork.
The present sling assembly, as embodied in this invention, allows a rifle, shotgun or submachinegun to be carried in a ready position at a waist or hip level parallel to the ground, in a well balanced position without tiring the arms of the soldier. At this ready position, the firearm can be fired instantly from the waist or hip and, more importantly, can be mounted at the shoulder and fixed at eye level for accurate firing or shooting.